I’ve been told that motivation, dedication, and determination decide where you end up in life not a test score. That being said, good test scores will put you in a better position to succeed. However, if you don’t have the previously mentioned three things, it becomes a bumpy road to travel. The overall objective for this ‘fun’ activity is to give the kids a real world example of tests being important, but they are not the deciding factor in the final outcome of life. I wanted to make this activity relatable since a good portion of the students watch football and know most of the popular players.

To the actual activity, students will be given 12 minutes to take the sample version of the Wonderlic Test. I will then go over the answers while students keep track of their score and tally up the numbers. Students will come back together for group discussion and share scores if they feel up to it – I will share my score to break the ice. I will also be sharing the scores of popular NFL players in order to start a discussion about work ethic and test taking. The activity will take place on 3/13/13. This activity will hopefully lead into a teacher/student guided discussion about test anxiety and how we deal with being anxious about test taking.

12 comments on “Are You Smarter Than an NFL Football Player? (Wonderlic Test)”

Yea, I gave myself about 5 minutes to take it. Didn’t do so well. I had to skip some of the questions because they were taking too long. I figured that’s what I’d have to do on a real test like this – skip ones that I don’t know or ones that took too long. I would need a scratch piece of paper or a calculator for the math;)

I was never a good test taker. Perhaps I should have focused more when I took this test ;) In my class, I weight things because I know tests aren’t the only way to determine mastery or intelligence. For example, 25% quizzes/tests, 25% participation/bell work, 25% homework, 25% essays. I don’t want a student to get discouraged because they do poorly on a test because like I said their are other ways to determine mastery. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for liking my blog! I’m loving it!
And this is a great post; Interesting, and logical theory. Clearly when we watch football players we can see their nimbleness on the field. So nice to know it translates to other areas of their lives as well!! (BTW: I’m feeling pretty proud of myself, having scored 11!)

This is terrific. I may have to give it to my students. I got 14 of the 15; one of the math questions got to me. The Wonderlic site says to multiply your score by 4.167 to find your real score, so that’s 58.338, but it looks like a 93% to me. I’ll take it. Can I get one of the NFL players’ salaries for just one year now? *snaps fingers* Darn!